Pete, most females that enter the open tournaments, certainly have averages well above 200, and so do the majority of male bowlers bowling as well. The main difference is I guess the females that tend to enter, whilst potentially good (and possibly have similar skill levels) still need assistance because as much as we would all like things to be equal, they cannot compete each and every time again male opponents and it is more a pure physical nature than anything else. I have already said, I am neither here nor there with this, but I am willing to give this idea a chance to see what happens and I can certainly see all points of view. I understand how the so called fringe bowlers can be put out by this if they miss a cut by not getting the bonus pins, but taking the recent tournament on board, if I hadn't thrown it well enough to make it inside the top 32 and missed spares and generally had a bad time, I don't think I would be feeling too hard done by with those finishing above me knowing I didn't throw it so well. And I also don't see the bonus as being disparaging to women as some have suggested but then again I am not a female, nor know what goes on inside their heads lol.
In regards to your post above about giving other categories assistance, the only thing I would suggest is giving juniors reduced entry fees to encourage their participation, they are the future after all and already cost their parents a fortune, plus will have to make the transition into adult tournaments sooner or later lol.
I also agree that if you open up the 8 pin advantage to lower average bowlers, you would be surprised to see how low some peoples average can certainly go and then that wouldn't prove anything.
The other side to this is that at present, there is a big lack of depth in our high end female bowling ranks, who can seriously match it with the worlds best. By encouraging the women to enter these tournaments, bowl on the patterns in a tournament environment it can possibly help increase their skill level over a shorter period of time. Just another thought.
Michael,
Thanks for the reply, appreciate a polite discussion.
My argument is based on fairness to all parties bowling. I'm not exactly sure what reason the rule has been introduced, is it to increase numbers in tournaments or is it to build an elite female team at expense of open tournament bowlers ?
"most females that enter the open tournaments, certainly have averages well above 200, and so do the majority of male bowlers bowling as well"
So you admit the known females will have an advantage in excluding equally skilled males from making cuts ?
"And I also don't see the bonus as being disparaging to women as some have suggested "
Females in Australia are capable of front line combat duties in our Armed Forces, but not capable of bowling on sports patterns without assistance...apparently. Seriously, if a female needs an 8 pin advantage to improve her skills to international competition, she is never going to cut it internationally anyway.
"In regards to your post above about giving other categories assistance, the only thing I would suggest is giving juniors reduced entry fees to encourage their participation"
Give females reduced fees to encourage them to bowl rather than an advantage of more pins if you want more entries.
As far as sandbagging, easy to eliminate it by making the cost to achieve the average greater than the gain of winning a tournament. eg the average used has to be from a greater number of games (at a value of $3 ea game ) than the first place prize fund. So if you sandbag you need to spend more than what a win would receive in prize money. If you top ten in an event you lose your 8 pin handicap for 12mths.
I keep going back to this.. It's the principle of fair play which is of paramount importance. Once that principle is lost, you bring the sport into disrepute. Having only the females able to bowl the maximum score proves the rule to be unfair, that has already happened.
TBA should be accountable for making all competition fair, I think this rule breaches that principle.
